1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to exercise apparatuses, and more particularly to a damper adjusting device for an exercise apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional exercise apparatus, such as exercise bicycle, stationary bike, elliptical walking machine, etc., is operated for exercise by driving the rotation of a resistance wheel, and an adjustment of the magnitude of the resistance generated while the resistance wheel is rotated can shift the difficulty levels of exercise. Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, a conventional damper adjusting device 80 is mounted on a base 81 of an exercise apparatus, including a resistance wheel 82, a pivoting member 83, a support member 85, a driving mechanism 86, and a spring 88. The resistance wheel 82 is rotatably mounted to the base 81. The pivoting member 83 is pivotably mounted on the base 81 and positioned at a side of the resistance wheel 82, having a magnet set disposed at a resistance portion 84 corresponding in position to the resistance wheel 82. The support member 85 has a first arm portion 851 and a second arm portion 852, which have a predetermined included angle therebetween. The first arm portion 851 is pivotably mounted on the base 81 at a bottom end thereof and pivotably connected with the pivoting member 83 at a slot positioned at a top end thereof. The driving mechanism 86 has a stationarily rotatable cam 87 positioned above the second arm portion 852. The spring 88 has two ends connected respectively with the second arm portion 852 and the base 81 for generating resilience which keeps the second arm portion 852 contacting against a lateral surface of the cam 87. The second arm portion 852 can be pushed by the cam 87 or by the resilience of the spring 88 to drive the pivoting member 83 to pivot, such that the resistance portion 84 can be moved toward or away from the resistance wheel 82 to adjust the magnitude of the resistance.
However, the distance that the cam 87 drives the support member 85 to pivot is substantially equal to the length between the long radius and the short radius of the cam 87, and space inside the base 81 has to be sufficiently reserved for the rotation of the cam 87, such that the exercise apparatus is structurally large to be bulky and massive and to further incur inaesthetic appearance thereof. In addition, the magnitude of the resistance is adjusted by that the support member 85 drives the pivoting member 83 by means of the slot to change the distance between the magnet set and the resistance wheel, such that the whole process is complicated and more components are required to incur high production cost.